


Italian Masterpiece

by mybeanieandme



Category: The Old Guard (Comics)
Genre: Art School, M/M, Nicky is very curious how drawings are made, Nude Model Andy, Nude Model Nicky, Nude Modeling, Professor Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani, Professor Quynh, So Much Nudity, too much information about art school
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:48:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26624689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mybeanieandme/pseuds/mybeanieandme
Summary: Joe is a professor of foundations at an arts university. Nicky is their newest life model.
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia & Quynh | Noriko, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 6
Kudos: 113





	1. Poses

**Author's Note:**

> After seven years of art school and two degrees, now feels like the perfect time to use my art school knowledge to properly write an art school AU.

“See anything you like?” a woman asked from beside him and he jumped. This made her laugh, a deep full sound he liked quite a lot. She had a lovely face as he turned towards her, smile wide, dazzling white teeth and happy crinkles around her eyes. 

“It’s a very beautiful painting,” he told her as he gestured towards the canvas board. It was a breast. Well- not just a breast- it was the upper half of a woman but he’d gestured towards the breasts. He’d been caught, at least it felt that way at first, ogling a wall of thirty or so studies of the same model from thirty different angles. They were in various degrees of completion, the level of competency and execution also varied canvas to canvas. Not that he had any room to critique, he wouldn’t know a pencil from a paint brush let alone what to do with one if you put either in his hand. 

“That’s Joe’s,” said the woman pointing to the one he had been closest to and eyeing the keenest. “He’s the instructor.”

“Ah,” he nodded and something clicked in his mind as his eye followed the tip of her finger to her face. He started. “That’s you!”

She laughed again, the sound full of mirth, and held out her hand. “I’m Andy.”

“Andy,” he repeated and shook her hand. “I’m Nicky.”

“The new model?” Andy asked but it sounded like she knew the answer to that. 

“Si,” he nodded and scrubbed his hand through his hair as he suddenly felt she might be undressing him with her eyes but not in a sexual way. “Is something wrong?”

Andy shook her head, a smile playing across her face. “He’s definitely going to like you.” 

“Thank you?” Nicky said and he turned his attention back to the bare breasts in front of him. “So- have you been doing this long?”

“Twenty years,” she almost sighed into it, like she shouldn’t believe she was still doing it after all of this time. 

“That’s like- an entire career,” Nicky’s eyes were wide with the disbelief he tried to keep from his voice. 

“I’m really good at sitting still,” with all the seriousness in the world.

A door opened on the far side of the wall of paintings, dozens of students emerging with huge thin rectangular attachés and backpacks. They looked so young, though Nicky supposed they were. First year university students were young. Some barely eighteen, with bright eyes full of hope, a lot of these bright eyes had smudges around them in the shape of fingerprints. It reminded Nicky strongly of Ash Wednesday.The material seemed congruent with art on an adjoining wall. Some kind of drawing material then and not religious indoctrination. 

Once the flood of people ceased, Andy walked in the way they’d come out, voice bright and cheery as she greeted someone inside. Nicky followed her in to find her speaking to a very handsome man. He looked to be in his mid thirties, button down shirt casually disheveled from what Nicky could only assume was vigorous drawing. Nicky refused to let his eyes wander to the man’s long slender fingers. He wasn’t an artist but the sight of the man’s palms made him want to pick up a pencil and try. They were a nice shape and perfect for holding against his own palms. 

This was a pretty man. 

“Nicolo?” The man asked and extended one of his perfect hands. Nicky shook it and was surprised by how soft his skin was but not how firm the hold was. Where Nicky was expecting callouses from years of sliding skin against textured paper and canvas and holding hundreds of instruments, there was just supple skin. “I’m Joe.”

“Please call me Nicky,” Nicky said and reluctantly released Joe’s hand. Joe’s eyes were soft warm brown that had soft amber hues with this angle of the sun. The room had brilliant sun exposure from the tallest windows Nicky had ever seen along the two far walls. It was a relatively empty space, easels and stools scattered in a semi-circle around a single platform in the middle where an arrangement of strange objects sat with a slew of lamps. 

“Nicky,” Joe said his name too sweetly and Nicky had the urge to touch him again. “Have you done this before?”

“I haven’t,” Nicky shook his head and brought his eyes back to Joe. “I’m a fast learner.”

“Ironic, when in this case the key is to go slow,” Andy smiled gently and Nicky nearly jumped as he’d almost completely forgotten she was there. It wasn’t that she was forgettable. It was just that Joe seemed to take up all the space of the room. Joe slid his glasses up his nose as he turned to address Andy and Nicky lost track of the conversation. What on earth was happening to him. Joe’s shocked laugh pulled him out of his daydream.

“No- that won’t be necessary,” Joe was telling Andy as she leaned in close to him, her hand on his shoulder as his arm was slung around her waist. The familiarity in the hold was soft and meaningful and Nicky wasn’t sure why part of him felt jealous. 

“I really don’t mind,” Andy told Joe. 

“Monday, I’ll have both of you come,” Joe promised her.

“Both of us?” Nicky finally rejoined the conversation.

“You don’t mind, do you?” Joe asked. “It’s a bigger class and having two models would be better for the number of students.”

“Not at all,” Nicky cleared his throat and shook his head, offering them both a small smile. 

“Andy’s the best there is,” Joe gave her a little squeeze. 

“When you’ve been at it this long it’s easy to weed out the competition,” Andy shrugged. 

“Don’t be modest. She has perfect form,” Joe commended and Nicky swore Andy nearly blushed from the sincerity of it. 

“Stop,” she clucked and shook her head. “We still on for Saturday?” 

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Joe grinned at her and she waved at him as she left. 

It was just the two of them then, Nicky forced himself to be far more interested in the collection of plastic fruits and random objects on the table as Joe sifted through papers. “Do you do yoga at all?” 

The question drew his attention back to Joe. It seemed to come from absolutely nowhere and Nicky wasn’t sure how to answer. “On occasion-.”

“Most of the models find it easier to sit for longer poses if they’ve done some yoga,” Joe informed him and gestured for Nicky to sit opposite his desk on one of the odd wooden benches in the room. “But it’s still the beginning of the semester so we’ve not worked our way up to those anyway.” 

Before him, Joe laid out a collection of drawings, all different body types and shapes, ethnicities, colors and creeds. Nicky couldn’t discern any order until he noticed there was a flow to the motion, the poses complementing one another as if designed that way in rendering by a deft hand. “Every model has their favorite poses to do- some are better at gestures, some are better at short poses- long poses- you get the idea,” Nicky could feel Joe’s eyes on him as his eyes were focused solely on the shapes and forms before him. 

“How will I know what kind of poses I like?” Nicky asked with all the innocence in the world. When Joe didn’t respond immediately, Nicky looked up to catch the fleeting hint of a smile and Nicky caught his unintended double entendre. 

“For the Life Drawing I class on Monday we’ll be doing simple standing poses,” Joe shifted the papers and put three standing drawings on the top of the pile. The models were standing with weight equally balanced on either foot. “We’ll build to contrapposto, more dynamic poses, and different lighting.”

“Contrapposto?” Nicky repeated the word in Italian. 

“In art it’s just a way of standing,” Joe chuckled softly and smiled, he sorted through the papers and found a drawing of Andy standing with her hands on her hips. “See the diagonal?” Joe hovered a long and beautifully tapered finger over the drawing and gestured in two slashes across her hips and shoulders. “Opposing angles.”

Nicky blinked as if Joe had blown the doors off of his reality. “I guess I’ve never really given much thought to how people stand…”

“Most don’t,” Joe smiled a little wider then. “That’s why I’m glad we could meet and talk beforehand. I know other faculty all do the curriculum slightly differently. Some people like to throw the kids in at the deep end. But drawing is a skill that takes time to learn. I don’t like to discourage anyone from building their talent or to scare anyone off too soon by making things too complicated.” His voice was getting softer as he spoke, not unlike the shading on the drawings before him as the contrast in the lighting faded towards the edges. 

“You must be a very good teacher,” Nicky said with all the earnestness he could muster. That brought color to the other man’s face, who looked bashfully down at the drawings and shrugged. 

“I certainly try,” he said and he arranged the drawings back into a neat stack. “I’m really looking forward to working with you. It’s been a while since we’ve had a new model- and I know the kids don’t know the difference. To every freshman year class that comes through Andy is a brand new face- but I certainly am looking forward to drawing you.”

Nicky didn’t really know how to take that so he stood up as it appeared Joe was getting ready to leave. “Will I need any- supplies or anything?” Nicky asked instead as his eyes wandered back to the collection of objects in the middle of the room. 

Joe followed his eyes and chuckled. “Naw, you’re your own still life. We’ll have lamps all ready for you- but you might want a robe for breaks.”

“Right,” Nicky nodded and made a mental note to purchase one. 

Joe too stood up and gathered his things. Nicky felt compelled to linger there, watching him make nimble work of his briefcase and extra large attaché. 

“What are those for?” Nicky asked, gesturing to the large thin rectangular shape. 

“Hm?” Joe looked up at him, turning the lamp off as he gathered his jacket. Nicky motioned with his arm as if he was the only holding the object. “The portfolio? It’s for big drawings- on big paper. We start on large newsprint pads.” He threw Nicky a quick wink. “You’ll see on Monday.”

“I’ll see you then,” Nicky gave him the smallest wave.


	2. First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicky inceptions himself while modeling.

Nicky arrived too early on Monday morning. He’d been booked for two classes, both of them Joe’s. He was somehow relieved while also flustered. After his meeting with Joe he had begun to worry about aspects of modeling he hadn’t considered when he’d initially applied for the job. The nudity thing was a given. Now, he wasn’t like a greek sculpture or anything. But he was happy with his physique so he wasn’t so concerned with that part of it. Joe and Andy were friendly, and he felt comfortable. He just hadn’t considered once that he’d be hot for professor. In no iteration of his seemingly endless mind map of potential pitfalls and possibilities of this particular job, had he considered the sight of the man instructing the class would make him hard. Who could foresee such an eventuality? He’d considered how he might be accused of being a pornographer and then he could never run for office or become a celebrity. The thing was, he cared for neither of those ideas and so that was not a deterrent. The pros had grossly outweighed the cons and so he was here. 

Where here was exactly at this moment was a small classroom just beside Joe’s where there were hundreds of drawings pinned up. It was student work, all signed and recently dated. A majority of them were of Andy. Nicky wasn’t sure of what to make of them. They seemed close and it sounded like they had a date on Saturday. But their body language wasn’t that intimate. Even Joe’s hand around her waist was more familial than anything else, his fingers didn’t wander and they didn’t grip, hand firmly clasped in one secure spot. She felt like his older and much wiser sister. Nicky had wasted a lot of time this weekend overthinking the entirety of their interaction and wondering why he cared. He’d just gotten a feeling off of Joe. Something familiar, something akin to feeling like home. It was strange how comfortable he felt. 

Nicky heard giggling in the hallway and moved to make his presence known. He was on the far side of the classroom which gave the gigglers more time to giggle. It sounded like two women, he paused just before the threshold of the semi-open door not wanting to startle them. He heard it then, the gasp and moan. The giggles came again then, one voice admonishing the other. Nicky realized then that it was Andy. The creak of the door announced him before he could open his mouth. 

If Andy was startled she didn’t show it, looking nonplussed with a gorgeous woman in her arms. “Good morning, Nicky,” she said evenly as she set the woman firmly back on the ground but did not let her get too far, her smile was fiercely happy like she was excited to see him. “This is my wife Quynh.”

Nicky beamed back at her, heart lighter than it had been in days. “Your wife? It’s lovely to meet you, Quynh.” He extended a hand which she shook with a smile. 

“Nicky?” she repeated Nicky’s name and something like realization struck her face. “Are you the-?” She turned away from Nicky to meet Andy, her eyes going wider.

“A-huh,” Andy smiled something wolfish and nodded emphatically as she folded her arms. 

“That Yusuf-?” Quynh’s eyes got impossibly wider.

“Yep,” Andy popped the “p” as if to cut her wife off but the smile remained. They both turned to look at him then in a frightening unison, conspiratorial smiles plastered on their faces. Quynh’s was sweet but Andy’s looked mischievous. 

“What are we talking about this morning?” Joe asked as he joined them in the room, voice a little out of breath from the two stories up. He had his keys out, jingling as he tried to find the one he wanted, the smell of coffee drifting after him as he passed, a large Starbucks cup in the other hand. 

“I was just introducing Nicky and Quynh,” Andy explained, her arms never moving from around her wife.

“Good morning, Professor,” Joe nodded to Quynh. “You’re an awful long way from your classroom this morning.”

“You’re awful nosy to assume my schedule, Professor,” Quynh smirked like a challenge and then raised her eyebrow. She held the face for a moment before she burst into a thrill of laughter. “Alright- I better get to my morning archery class.”

“Archery?” Nicky asked, suddenly finding his voice again. Something about the sight of Joe drew all his abilities away and it was all he could do to remember to breathe. 

“Quynh teaches stage combat. She specializes in film work,” Andy said proudly as she kissed her wife’s temple and finally let her go. 

“I’ll see you for dinner,” Quynh kissed her wife’s cheek and waved at Nicky and Joe. “It was nice to meet you, Nicky.”

Joe had the classroom open and the lights on then. The sun just then breaching the horizon and painting the sky a rich magenta, the soft tones playing in Joe’s bouncy curls as he stood against the window to turn on the computer. The still life was gone, replaced by two larger stands that were flush with one wall and a mess of sheets. Nicky wondered when this had happened and who had done it but something told him it was Joe. 

“Did you have a nice weekend?” Nicky asked the room and Andy looked up from her phone. 

“I did, actually. Thank you for asking,” she was so smiley. “Finally got this one out to the beach this weekend.”

“Do you not like the beach?” Nicky loved this segway that gave him an excuse to address Joe directly. Joe, who looked so soft and warm in the mornings. Gentle heart that wanted everyone to love drawing as much as he did. It was so clear in all the student work Nicky had seen that morning. This man loved what he did and he was good at it. 

“I love the beach,” Joe assured him and met his eyes over his glasses, coffee paused midway to his mouth. “Andy just thinks I struggle to relax.”

“He does struggle to relax,” Andy said as she arranged a few of the wooden benches.

“What are those anyway?” Nicky asked as she moved her second bench.

“The drawing horse?” She clarified as she set it down. 

“Drawing horse,” Nicky repeated as if he’d never heard those two words before in his life and couldn’t possibly know what they meant together. 

Andy glanced for assistance perhaps in demonstration from Joe who was deep into his emails, based on the reflection in his glasses. She resolved to shrug then. “You’ll see real soon I promise. The first student trickled in and then it built. There were twenty students in all. With them spread around at various drawing spots (Nicky now understood completely what the drawing horse was and how to use it) , the room felt much smaller and the platforms so much more significant. The hour rolled around and Joe was struck out of his email trance, taking his place at the front of the classroom near the lone dry erase board. 

“Good morning class- I know we had Andy do some basic gestures last week to loosen up but today I want to get a feel for your skill level and what we’re working with. You don’t have to be at any specific place, I just want to know where everyone is so that I can help guide this class to what would best suit your needs. Today we’ve got Andy and Nicky,” he gestured to them as he spoke, his freehand going into his pants pocket as if to anchor himself. “Nicky’s not ever done this before so we will also be assessing his skill level as well.”

That made the class go “oooooh” in an intrigued tone that made Nicky grin nervously and then they all laughed, some tension broken. The students were released to set up their stations and as they did, Nicky and Andy ducked behind a makeshift curtain. It was easier to take his clothes off than he was expecting. They were slightly partitioned but he could still see Andy strip as easy as you’d like, folding her clothes before pulling her robe on neatly. Nicky tried not to watch her but he caught moments just to be sure it was just as easy as this and it wasn’t a trick. He pulled his new robe on, buying the softest one he could find in a thicker fabric, worried about how cold the winter mornings would become. 

They strolled out as Joe was in the middle of explaining proportion on a skeleton he’d rolled in front of the platforms. “Here they are,” he said happily and he pushed the skeleton to the far side before turning some lamps on. “We’re going to start with a five minute pose,” he took the egg timer off of the apron he was now wearing, seemingly waiting for them to take their places. Nicky followed Andy’s lead and stood on a platform, removing his robe as he went. 

He didn’t know why but he was expecting some kind of reaction from the students. Joe pressed a button on the timer and everyone started scribbling furiously. 

He could feel so many eyes on him but none of them felt objectifying. Indeed, everyone seemed to be in such tight concentration he hardly felt like himself and was something more akin to the plastic apple he’d seen on that table last Friday. 

He stared fixedly in one place, somewhere just beyond Joe’s head. Joe’s eyes did feel different than everyone else’s. Nicky attributed it to his further years of training. Joe looked at him differently because he knew how to draw property, pupils flicking over him with delicious concentration because he knew just where to start on a drawing to get a proper likeness and rendering. 

Nicky willed himself as still as he could and let his mind wander anywhere but to Joe. Joe drew with his whole arm, throwing himself into it with a speed and conviction even Nicky, in his ignorance of the craft, could tell was spectacular technique. Nicky refused to let his eyes flick to his powerful biceps as he moved. He thought instead of the beach. Nicky was too new to town to have been to the beach here yet. He did love the beach. Especially the ones back home. He spent many fond days of his youth there. It’s where he learned to swim and where he’d first fallen in love. His name had been Paolo, he was a lifeguard and it was very cliche. Nicky forgot about him, recalling instead the gentle lapping of the water on the rocks, the roll of the waves on the sand-

The timer went off and the pervasive silence was replaced by relieved students, creaking benches and adjusting easels for their next drawings. Nicky followed Andy’s lead and put his robe back on as Joe moved around the classroom to look at everyone’s work. 

“You’re very good,” Andy said to him confidentially as they stepped off the platforms and sat down on them instead. Joe was chatting behind them, finding teachable moments in everything he saw. 

“Am I?” Nicky could not hide the surprise in his voice and would not explain how deep into the recesses of his mind he had gone for gentle memories so as to not think of Joe while his dick was full on display. 

“A natural- didn’t move a millimeter,” Andy nodded, reaching for her water bottle and taking a swig. 

“Should we ask our models to come back up for another five minute pose? Shall we do five minute poses for the rest of the day?” Joe raised his voice a little to catch Nicky and Andy’s attention. 

They switched platforms this time, giving different students a different view. Nicky found it a little more difficult to stand still as Joe walked around the classroom to help guide students as they drew and his eyes wanted to follow the movement. Nicky took himself back there- to the white sandy beaches of his childhood. 

The third pose, Joe appeared there with him on the beach like a forced memory and Nicky pushed him away. He felt like Leonardo DiCaprio in Inception, actively dismissing a threatening insurrection of his mind. Or- an erection-

The timer ended and suddenly the class was over. Students packed quickly, rushing about as they headed for other classes around the sprawling campus.

Andy took her time putting her clothes back on, admiring the two sketches Joe had managed between teaching. “What do you think?” He asked, coming up behind her with a few spare pencils and kneaded erasers that had gotten lost in the shuffle of students. 

“You captured him perfectly,” Andy clapped once very forcefully and Nicky was drawn out from behind the curtain with his shirt half on. Of all of them, Andy still in her robe was the most naked, but Nicky felt the most exposed. He wandered over to see the drawings. 

His breath caught as he stared back at himself from a piece of paper. Joe had loosely sketched his entire form from head to toe and had only had time to go back in and refine small parts- mostly the shape of his torso and shoulders. Joe seemed to have gotten a little caught up on the shoulders as they were the most completed. 

“Wow,” Nicky said finally, realizing he needed to say something as they looked at him expectantly. “You are very skilled, Joe.” 

Color rose in Joe’s cheeks which Nicky found odd. He was clearly a very skilled artist and should be getting compliments every moment of every day. It felt like looking in a mirror, but the flaws he might have seen did not seem so garish rendered here in soft black marks. 

“What is the material?” Nicky asked. 

“Charcoal,” Joe smiled, he seemed to really like it when Nicky asked him questions about drawing. 

A slight smile tugged at the corners of Nicky’s mouth. “Charcoal.” It wasn’t all that different from ash on Ash Wednesday then. 

“It’s a beautiful drawing Joe, you should finish it,” Andy called, she was behind the curtain now changing back into her clothes. 

“Maybe later,” Joe chuckled at her. “You know how hopeless my evening life drawing class is.”

“I’ll model for you if you need more time,” Nicky found himself saying. 

Joe looked just as surprised to hear the words as Nicky felt saying them. “I couldn’t ask you to do that-.”

“I don’t mind- plus I could use the practice, right? For longer poses,” Nicky said. 

Joe’s easy smile made its way back onto his face. “Well- when you put it that way. But I’d have to pay you,” he shook his head as Nicky’s mouth formed words of protest. “Always get paid for your work. It’s what I like to teach my students.”

“I’m a little old to be your student,” Nicky said instead. 

The clacking of Andy’s boots as she exited, paused just before she reached the door, she tilted her sunglasses down. “Way too old,” she corrected and she was smirking brilliantly. “But then again you’re never too old to learn, huh, Nico?” 

“I do need to learn my favorite poses,” Nicky added.

“Joe can definitely help you with that,” Andy said. “Now let’s get some lunch.”


End file.
